Ella Unenchanted
by LLM99
Summary: What if Lucinda had lifted the curse after she tried them out for herself? This is what might have happened.


**What if Lucinda did remove the curse when Ella asked her to? I do not own ****Ella Enchanted****. Review what you think.**

"Ella. Come here." I don't move. I feel no pain, no discomfort.

"Is it?" Mandy starts.

"It's gone." A smile breaks across my face, growing wider by the second. "I'm free. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"I know what this has done to you. I apologies profusely. I wish I could take them all back, but I do not know what that would cause." Lucinda looks overjoyed. "No more big magic from today on."

"Thank you." I say again.

"If you ever need me, simply say 'Lucinda come to my aid'. I will do anything as long as it is not too big." She kisses my forehead. "How do you plan to win your prince back?"

"I am going to ride to Ayorthia and surprise him." I smile.

"No, no, I say you should go to the balls and woo him. I can help with dresses. You can show late when everyone else has already arrived. You shall wear a dazzling gown and look like a princess. You will not wear a mask and Prince Charmont shall run to you and you live Happily Ever After." Lucinda daydreams.

"He believes I have eloped with an old, rich man who shall die soon. The dress would just confirm this for him." I shake my head.

"If you wear no ring, then he won't." Didn't think about that.

"For once I agree. I can alter your mother's gowns with small magic." Mandy smiles.

"How will you alter them?" Lucinda asks. "Let me see these dresses." She follows me to my quarters and looks at the gowns. "They are lovely, a little out of fashion, but I can fix that. It won't be too big an ordeal."

Mandy gives her a warning look and Lucinda takes out a spring green dress with yellows rose buds. "I think this one." She then takes a powder blue and purple dress out. "This one and," she takes out a white dress I only saw my mother wear dress, "this one."

"How do you plan to alter them?" I ask.

"Simple." She launches into an explanation an I stop listening. I'm free and I'm going to be with Char. If he still wants me. What if he doesn't? What if he has fallen love with another girl? Or hates me too much to ever love me again? No, he has to love me. He has to.

* * *

You look lovely, Lady." Mandy says, wiping a tear from under her eye.

"He won't know what hit him." Lucinda says and motions me to the door. It's sleeting. "Never mind the rain."

I finger mother's necklace, which I stole from Hattie while she slept. For the past month I have been a servant, though no longer a fully obedient one, waiting for this and now it sleets and hails. Then a large pumpkin comes along and mice turn into horses. I am mesmerized. "There." Lucinda smiles and hands me an umbrella.

"Have fun, love." Mandy kisses my cheek.

"I will be wanting details, remember the carriage will disappear at midnight. I am sure however, that you won't be needing it." Lucinda says and shoos me out the door. I rush to the open door of the pumpkin carriage and we're off. How am I going to explain everything to Char? How will he react? Will he hate me for lying to him? I quickly put on the mask that I wore to Father's wedding as we pull up to the castle. Tonight I wear the green gown.

The door opens and I am helped out of the coach. I have been to the castle once, when I was a babe to meet the Royal family. Strange how since then I have been asked to join the Royal family, but rejected, kinda. then I see the line. Not just any line, the line to meet Char. Mostly women who have already unmasked so they can see their beautiful (or not so beautiful) faces. Hattie and Olive aren't in the line. Probably eating, they eat a lot. I feel kinda bad for Mandy, all the food she must prepare. I help, but it's mostly Mandy.

Should I wait in line? Or should I dance with others until there is no longer a line and I can get him alone? I don't want to seem desperate, but he was the one who sent me that letter. "Lady." I turn and see a squire. He hands me a glass of champagne, which I gladly take. "I suppose you will be joining the queue soon as well? It seems every young lady has, hoping the Prince will propose on the spot. Will you dance with me?"

"I am sorry. I am waiting for someone. I promised them my first dance." Lie.

"Well, think about it later perhaps?" He asks, hopeful.

"I will keep it in mind." He smiles, I smile, he leaves before it gets awkward. The line has thinned some, and Char looks annoyed. Poor him. Perhaps I can make this night better, or worse depending on his feeling for me at the present moment. I walk to the refreshments, hoping I can keep whatever I eat down. There is finger sandwiches and tea cakes and I take a few because I'm hungry. I eat my small plate of food and go back to see that there is only one maiden left in the line. Quickly I go up behind her and Char looks somewhat upset. Does he not want to see me? Or is he just tired of greeting people. The girl leaves and Char bows, I curtsy. "Prince Charmont."

"What is your name?" Here goes nothing. I untie the ribbons holding my mask and slowly take it away from my face.

"My name is Ella." He stands there in shock.

"Ella, I thought. Your letter said you were married." He says choppily, thoroughly confused.

"I am not." I smile.

"Oh, Ella, the letter Hattie sent me was a trick to get me to hate you, wasn't it?" He pulls me close and wraps his arms around my waist.

"No." I say meekly.

"What do you mean?" He asks, pulling away.

"It's a long story, but I will give you the abbreviated version." I sigh. "When I was born, Lucinda the fairy, gave me the 'gift' of obedience. I obey every order. My mother, before she passed, ordered me not to tell anyone because they might use me. Then she passed and I was sent to finishing school, you know what resulted from that." He nods. "Then father married Dame Olga, again you know what happened. Lucinda made them love each other forever. My father left three days after you, for his job. I was forced to become a servant because Hattie figured out that I had the gift. Mandy made Lucinda try out her gifts and she felt so awful, she released me from my spell a month ago. Now I'm here."

"Why did you refuse my offer then?" I skipped that, didn't I?

"If I had married you, someone could have ordered me to kill you and I would have had to do it." I looked down.

"You rejected me because you were afraid someone would want to kill me?" I nod. "Ella, do you love me?"

"I do." I keep looking down. He tilts my chin up so I am looking him in the eye.

"Come with me." He takes my hand and leads me outside, away from the prying eyes of well everyone. "Ella of Frell," He slides down on one knee and takes both my hands in his, "Will you marry me?"

"Yes. Yes. Absolutely yes." I feel like I could fly. He stands up and wraps his arms around my waist, pressing his lips to my cheekbone.

"Ella, I love you, I love you more than you could ever know." He whispers against my cheek.

"I love you more." I bury my face in his neck.

"Not possible." He murmurs into my hair.

* * *

"Mother, Father," Char bows, I curtsy, "This is Lady Ella of Frell. We are betrothed."

"I have been very eager to meet the girl whom my son loves." Queen Daria hugs me. "You're Lady Eleanor's daughter."

"Yes majesty." I say.

"I always admired her." She smiles. "I can tell you are much like her."

"Thank you." I smile broadly.

"When did you two get engaged?" King Jerold asks.

"About ten minutes ago." Char is smiling more than me.

"And it took you this long to tell me?" Queen Daria exclaims.

"Yes mother." Char looks down at his feet.

"We have to announce this immediately." King Jerold smiles. Everyone is smiling, happy.

"How about we get Ella a ring first, Jerold." Queen Daria places a hand on her husbands chest.

"Still, this is cause for celebration." King Jerold exclaims.

"Tomorrow Ella and Char can pick out a ring and we will announce it at the next ball." Queen Daria rejoices. Tomorrow. My engagement to Char would be announced tomorrow in front of everyone. I cannot wait to see Hattie's face. Will the smile still be plastered on? Will she scream and try to order me not to marry him? If she does I will laugh. It will be hilarious. I wonder how Mother would feel about all of this. I'm engaged to the prince. I'm engaged to Char. I'm gonna be a princess. Okay, I don't want to be a princess. How am I supposed to inform my fiance that i don't want to be a princess when he's the prince gonna be king one day?

Why do I not want to be a princess? Why don't I want to be queen? The answer is simple, Hattie. It is Hattie's goal in life and now I'm taking that away. As hilarious as it would be, it would still not feel right.

"Ella, would you grace me with a dance?" Char smiles.

"Well I told a squire earlier I wouldn't dance my first dance with him because I was waiting for someone." I smile.

"Has he arrived?" Char asks, forgetting his parents standing five feet away.

"He most certainly has." I giggle. I giggled. Wow.

"Well then your must dance with him." He takes my arm and leads me to the floor. A new song starts and he twirls me around. It's a gavotte. It's fast and Char and I laugh the entire dance. We get stared at and I get glared at by every single woman in the room. The song ends and Char kisses my hand. "Care to take a turn in the gardens?"

"I would love to." He takes my arm and leads me outside.

"I've missed you, a lot." He admits.

"I've missed you, too. I wrote four copies of that letter. I ruined the first too from crying on them. The third because I forgot to misspell letters. You got the fourth." I look down at my glass slippers peaking out from under my skirts as I walk.

"I burned it." He admits. "I couldn't take it. I believed that you were..."

"I know. I have something else to tell you that I think you might actually enjoy once you get away from the fact that it is kinda creepy." This will be interesting. He looks at me, confused. "I have this fairy made book. It will show me pictures and fairy tales and diary entries and letters from people I care about. I saw your journal entry after you got the letter. I smiled at it. You were safe from me, you hated me but it didn't matter because you were safe."

"Ella I could've taken precautions and kept you safe here without breaking either of our hearts." He puts his fingers under my chin, pulling it up so I'm looking him in the eye.

"A hermit queen? What would people think? If we kept it a secret it would get out eventually." I touch my fingertips to his cheekbone.

"Ella." He whispers, leaning in closer.

"It doesn't matter now. My curse is gone, we're safe." He leans in even closer.

"Ella you have no idea how long I have wanted to do this." He brushes his lips to mine and time stands still. I take in a breath and we both begin smiling wider and wider. "I love you, so much."

"I love you, too." And then we're kissing. They aren't shy timid kisses, like I expected. I never want to be shy with Char. Not that I'm very shy ever. His arms around my slim waist, mine in his chestnut curls.

"I can't wait for you to be my wife." he pulls back slowly.

"Nor can I." I hold his handsome face and he touches one of his hands to mine.

"My princess." He whispers, kissing my cheek, my nose, my other cheek.

"Char, I...I don't want to be a princess." This is going to be interesting.

"What?" He pulls away from me.

"Understand, I want to be your wife trust me I do. I just don't want to be a princess. For the past year all I have heard is 'Princess Hattie' I don't think that I could take being 'Princess Eleanor'." I grab both his hands.

"Ella." He sighs, brushing a hair from my face and takes a deep breath. "I understand, but you have to have a title."

"How about Court Linguist?" I ask.

"And what Cook's Helper?" He laughs.

"We have to get Mandy out of Mum Olga's house." I say, suddenly aware of the fact that I'm going to be leaving that miserable existence. I have to bring Mandy, and Nancy.

"I agree. You can bring any of your friends you want." He smiles.

"There is a lass named Nancy who has always been kind to me." He keeps pushing locks of my hair back.

"She can come here, have her own legion of servants." He puts both hands on my shoulders. "What did they do to you Ella?"

"I had to scrub the floor until my knuckles bled, I had to do anything and everything they wanted, no matter how unimportant." He looks at me sympathetically.

"You should have told me." He pulls me close. I may have grown, but he is still several inches taller than me.

"I couldn't have, not without revealing my curse." I shake my head. "I wrote to you, after that letter I still wrote letters, they were just never posted. I told you about the litter of tabby cats I found cleaning out the root cellar. I told you everything I would do free of the curse. The first thing I would do is admit that I love you and beg you to marry me. I told you everything."

"You needn't ever beg for anything." He whispers in my ear. "Especially not for me to marry you."

"I'm glad." I laugh.

"I love it when you laugh, especially when I'm the one to make you do so." He noses my cheek.

"Charmont?" Oh no, Hattie. We pull apart and look at her. "Ella?"

"Lady Hattie." Char nods his head.

"Don't you know when to give up?" I shake my head and walk towards her.

"Ella, go home." She orders.

"I am." I smile.

"No, go change back into the scullery maid you are." She points in the general direction of the manor.

"I am not a scullery maid." I shake my head. "I'm a prince's fiancee and as such you will not order me about."

"Fiancee?" She shakes her head, her smile still plastered on.

"Yes, fiancee." Char comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.

"But Charmont? Our agreement." She asks, confused. What agreement. Char seems as confused as I am.

"What agreement Lady Hattie?" Char asks.

"Charmont, our engagement of course." She is so stupid.

"Lady Hattie we are not nor have we ever been engaged." Char says.

"But-" Hattie please stop.

"Hattie please." I say, stopping her.

"You little twit! You stole my necklace." Nice observation skills.

"No, I simply reclaimed what was rightfully mine."I laid a hand on mother's necklace.

"I thought I lost it." She says. "Ella, go home now. Go help Mandy cook or something."

"You cannot order me about anymore." I say and take Char's arm. He leads me back inside, leaving Hattie outside, confused. "I probably should not have enjoyed that, but I did."

"We will go get Mandy and whatever you want from your step-family's home in the morning. We will send for your father." He squeezes my hand.

"Thank you, so much, for everything." I look up at him.

"We are engaged, Ella." He smiles. I look to see if anyone heard him. Hattie would never tell anyone that her stepsister is the one to marry the prince.

"Char!" Cecilia. I do not believe I have ever met her. "Oh Lady Eleanor."

"Ella, just Ella." I curtsy.

"Ella." She curtsies in return. "Char, mother is looking for you. Something about wedding plans."

"Of course she would start now." He sighs.

"Well she is looking for you." Char smiles at his sister.

"I assume I should properly introduce you." He laughs.

"That would be nice." Cecelia laughs as well.

"Cece, this is Lady Eleanor, my betrothed. Ella, this is my sister, Cecelia." We both curtsied yet again.

"Char has spoken well about you, a lot, he used to speak about you a lot more." Cece smiles.

"Yes, there were some...complications, but everything is better not. More than better, everything is perfect." I smile at Char.

"I'm sorry to break this beautiful moment, but mother is going insane." We turn and see Char's youngest brother, Andrew.

"Well, it seems like we need to go and calm mother down." Char sighs.

"Will it be hard?" I ask.

"Yes." All three of them say at the same time.

"This should be interesting." Char says and leads me out of the room. "When she first heard about you, that we were friends she became extremely excited. It was actually kinda sad because I had no idea how you felt and I loved you and I don't know. I'm speaking nonsense."

"It's fine. I spent half the night after I got your letter dreaming of my life with you, away from Mum Olga." I smile.

"Do you want them to come to the wedding?" He asks. "I know that they are technically still your family, but after everything I think it would be better if they didn't come."

"I agree." I sigh. "Could we invite Areida. She was my only friend at Finishing School. One of my few friends, ever."

"Of course. We will invite anyone you want." He assures me.

"Thank you. I have been saying that so much tonight." I laugh.

"You needn't thank me ever again." He assures me. We enter the room which it seems Queen Daria is having a panic attack in. "Mother."

"Oh, Char we have so much to do. At first I hadn't thought about everything that had to be done, even just before tomorrow. We have to get a ring, Ella some new dresses. Your dress is lovely dear, but a little out of fashion. We have so much to do." She starts babbling.

"Mother, mother please. Tonight let's not worry about what is to come. Let's just be happy." Char sets his hands on his mother's shoulders.

"You're too good Char. You are right, tonight we will just be happy, but tomorrow we shall start planning. Any idea when you want the wedding to be?" She asks.

"As soon as possible." Char smiles at me.

"A month, by then we should be able to contact my father and bring him here, as well as Areida." I say.

"A month then." He smiles.

"Alright, one month. We have so much to do." Queen Daria starts again.

"Mother." Char warns.

"Right, tonight we will just be happy." She replies cooly.

"Thank you." Char hugs her.

"I love you." She whispers to him. I stand there, smiling. I think I am going to like being in this family. They pull apart and turn to me. "Oh Ella." She walks over and hugs me. "Thank you. You make Char so happy, he's always been so serious. He seems more his age around you."

I close my eyes. Mandy has been the only one to truly hug me like this in years. Like a mother hugs her daughter. "No need to thank me. He makes me happy, and I'm glad I make him so."

"Your a wonderful girl." She tells me.

"Thank you, your majesty." I smile.

"Daria, I want you to call me by my name." She pulls away, but rests her hands on my arms.

"Daria." I repeat.

"Good. Now you two go enjoy the rest of the evening." She waves us off. Char takes my arm and leads me yet again to the ballroom.

"They like you, a lot." He says.

"I'm glad. I would hope my betrothed's family likes me." I say. We walk into the ballroom and see that they are in the middle of a dance. "I think people are starting to figure out that something is going on with us." I nod towards the heads that have turned.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow we get to tell everyone." He whispers. "I never want to be parted from you from this day on."

"And you shan't." I whisper.

"How about we spend the rest of the night alone. I'm sure no one will miss us. It is getting to the part of the night which everyone is getting sleepy and drunk. They should be gone soon." I look over at the large clock. Midnight. How did time go by so quickly? Well, now there's a giant, useless carriage outside. "We have to make sure that we say farewell to most, but we can just walk around if you would like."

"I would love to, it's nice that the rain stopped." I say as we exit the room, bringing a few eyes with us.

"It will probably be back soon, sadly." He sighs. "You are going to live here from now on, correct? I think it would be better."

"Yes, I have to get out of that house." I shake my head.

"I couldn't agree more." He says and kisses my hand.

"Where are we?" I ask, looking at our unfamiliar surroundings.

"The hall leading to the library. No one would have followed us here." He assures me. "If it were not so cold I would take you to the maze outside. So even if someone had followed us it would be nearly impossible to find us."

"Sometime, we should do that." He opens a large door and I see hundreds and hundreds of books. "Wow."

"This is one of Cecelia's favorite rooms. Normally if there is a ball or dinner or something she will be in here. I have found her many times, asleep in one of the chairs all curled up with a book in her lap. I'd normally carry her to her room and put her in her to bed." He informs me.

"You're a good brother." I say.

"I hope I can be a good husband, too." I smile at this.

"You'll be the best." I wrap my arms around his neck.

"And you'll be the best wife." His hands rest on the small of my back.

"Together who knows what we'll accomplish." He leans down and presses his lips to mine. We pull each other closer and closer.

"You know, this isn't exactly appropriate." He laughs.

"What? Are we not allowed to kiss? We are betrothed." I laugh.

"Exactly, starting tomorrow all of our time together will have to be chaperoned. Do remember we have an image to keep up." He says.

"Chaperoned? Char this is going to be madness!" I exclaim.

"If we're lucky our chaperon may be Cecelia, who would gladly give us all the actual alone time we want." He leans his forehead on mine.

"So rebellious." I cry.

"Since when have you cared about rebellious behavior, Miss 'I ran away from finishing school to go to a wedding'?" We both laugh.

"I explained that to you." I remind him.

"I know, but its still funny." He kisses me again and we sit on one of the overstuffed couches. We can still hear the music faintly playing.

"Tell me about Ayorthia." I lean my head on his shoulder.

"I told you the nobles don't really talk. I met a friend of yours, Areida. We stayed a night in her parent's inn. She was sure that you hadn't married some old rich man and loved money more than anything else." He kisses my hair. "She was very polite."

"I need to write to her." I sigh. "We haven't spoken since I left finishing school. Hattie had ordered me to stop being friends with her. It was terrible."

"I know, I know." He squeezes me lightly. "You're free now and no one will order you to do anything ever again."

"I'm sure I'll get an order or two, but thankfully I won't have to obey." I smile at him.

"How many things do you have left at your step-family's home?" He asks.

"Not much really. Servant clothes, a few of Mother's dresses, my book, and a few other things." I say.

"How about, we go now to get everything, including Mandy?" He asks.

"Thank you, I would love that. I would also love to see Mum Olga's face when she realized Mandy and I were gone. She has a particular interest in Mandy's cooking." I say.

"I'm sure, from what I have heard, Mandy is one of the best cooks in the country." He laughs.

"That she is." I nod.

"Shall we go?" He asks.

"I would love to." I take his hand.

**Heck of a chapter. I'll be updating when I can, but I am currently at school and this place is challenging, but I can get over two years of college done before I graduate from high school.**


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